I'd rather they went the other direction: Pre-WWII. i.e. Spanish Civil War and Ethiopia.
Modern wars means more rules to handle modern weapons. I'm about "ruled" out at this point.
19K
I'd rather they stayed where they were - focused on WWII.
I agree that some people will applaud ASL being developed further either to the pre- or post-WWII era or both. Hard to tell, how large the group(s) is/are. Without doubt, not everyone will be on that train, though.
What concerns me a bit is how MMP will handle 'core' components in regard to this:
Provided, that I am in the camp that Korea, whatever after, the Spanish Civil war does not much interest me for purposes of ASL, would I have to buy the modules to keep up to date with regard to rules, boards, etc.?
Would someone who takes an interest in Spanish Civil war or post Korea stuff have to buy all the components of an era he might not be interested in? I.e. if you don't care about WW2 and want a hypothetical 'Vietnam' module, where would you get your Prep Fire and DM counters from? Would you have to buy BV3?
What I believe we don't need is further interdependencies that involve other eras. It makes it an ever greater pain to 'maintain' the system or to catch up with it when you enter the hobby. ASL is already vast only covering WWII. IMHO, MMP should make a cut somewhere.
There is a conceivable way to get the best of both worlds, I believe. This would be moving away from 'modules' that combine counters, some rules, some scenarios, and some maps in a box. Rather MMP would need to shift to a system of 'components', i.e. sell boards, nationality-countersheets, scenario packs, and rules covering non-WWII era independently while still maintaining the overall compatibility of the ASL system.
That way, the 'Vietnam/Korea' guys could get their stuff without having to buy BV3 et al. for system counters. The WWII bunch could just buy the boards that come with 'Vietnam' (or are intended for it but might serve WWII PTO just as well) and skip the helo-rules & counters.
I preordered KWASL mainly, because it is 'part of the system' and it includes some boards and rules that may possibly see use in WWII scenario designs and not because I am interested in Korea-wargaming. I saw it sort of as a terminus of WWII rather than the starting point of post WWII era publications: Eh, Korea... Well, aaaall right. You
could see it as a WWII afterthought. So you take it because then you are done with it although it is not really part of your focus.
So, as a bottom line, I am not saying that MMP should not extend the ASL scope. But I believe they should draw in boundaries that keep different eras independent of each other with regard to components.
von Marwitz